White House says Europe could become ‘unrecognisable in 20 years or less’

The White House claims that Europe is facing 'civilisational erasure'

The White House National Security Strategy is a periodic document that sets out the US's national security concerns.

This year's document shows a change in strategy, with claims that American strategy went "astray" for years.

Foreign policy objectives had remained largely unchanged for many years, but the new document seeks to narrow strategy with a host of new key points.

Key points from the document include:

• Europe faces 'civilisational erasure' and could become "unrecognisable in 20 years or less"
• "Certain NATO members will become majority non-European" within decades
• The US will "shift away" from the Middle East as a "burden" and move to see it as a "source and destination of international investment"
• America should "enlist and expand… restoring American pre-eminence" in the Western hemisphere
• The US should look to provide trade in Africa, rather than "providing and spreading liberal ideology"

Every US presidential administration publishes at least one security strategy, and this one is markedly different to Joe Biden's from 2022.

"American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests," the new document says.

This marks a shift from Trump's last strategy in 2017, which represented the world as a contest between "repressive regimes" and "free societies".

However, the new paper claims that trade is more important than imposing values on other nations.

"We seek good relations and peaceful commercial relations with the nations of the world without imposing on them democratic or other social change that differs widely from their traditions and histories."

The paper also criticises mass migration, and claims that it could lead to the destruction of the concept of a nation state.

It is particularly critical of Europe, claiming the continent could become 'unrecognisable'.

"Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less," it says.

The paper adds: "As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies.

"Many of these nations are currently doubling down on their present path. We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilisational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation."

Regarding Ukraine, the paper says: "The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition.

"A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those government's subversion of democratic processes."

The paper says the Trump administration will look to support "patriotic European parties", marking a move away from the American strategy of not interfering with allies' politics.

"American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations' individual character and history," the paper says.

"America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism."